Misery Loves Company
by wammy's agent Seeker
Summary: Naruto truly believed his misery knew no bounds. Until he met a woman who was as acquainted with misery as he was. They say misery loves company. Rated due to excessive foul language and child abuse.
1. Chapter 1: The Lonely Fox Boy

**My sympathy and love for Naruto knows no bounds!**

 **Let** **'s hope it** **'s good enough for this story.**

 **DISCLAIMER:** **I** **DO NOT OWN NARUTO!**

* * *

Eight years ago, a giant nine-tailed fox attacked the ninja village of Konaha.

Many lives were lost in the onslaught. When all seemed lost, the fourth hokage Minato Namikaze used a forbidden sealing jutsu to seal the bloodthirsty Fox into the body of a newborn baby boy.

That boy's sacrifice saved the village.

If he only knew what misery he had wrought on that poor, oblivious boy.

"Happy Birthday to me."

A blond haired boy sat in a dark apartment with only a candle on a half-eaten cupcake as his only source of light.

"Happy Birthday *sniff* to..me."

He paused to breath the dripping snot back up his chaffed red nose.

"Happy 8th birthday...t-to Naruto"

He wiped the tears from his eyes as he stared at the crusty cupcake with a single striped birthday candle. It was the same candle he used for the last three years since he could never afford anymore. He couldn't even afford a freshly baked cupcake.

"Happy Birthday...to...me."

 _'Make a wish Naruto.'_ He dried his tears and closed his eyes, but then opened them back up.

 _'Why bother? Wishes never come true. Especially mine. Kami doesn't grant wishes to monsters.'_ The boy thought bitterly as he stared at the poor excuse for a birthday cake.

 _'But then again, I'm just gonna get beat again no matter what I do. Awe what the hell!'_

Naruto closed his eyes again.

 _'I wish, I wish...I wish...that one person. Just one! That one person...cared that I'm alive. Cared that I was born. Cared...to even care at all!'_

Naruto promptly blew out the candle. As it went out, darkness settled in the apartment once more. He took out the candle and put it away in the kitchen cabinet.

"Let's hope I live to see another birthday." He said in yearly ritual as he placed it in the cabinet.

He went back to his threadbare couch with his half a cupcake and proceeded to wolf it down. He never got to eat sweet things very often. He dug it out of the bakery trash several hours ago. Not one to waste such an opportunity, he took it home as his yearly present to himself. Who cares if it was two weeks old and stale as a rock, it was sweet goddamitt!

So sweet. He must've chewed on it for ten minutes.

Once he got tired of chewing, he allowed it to slide down his throat.

He allowed the satisfaction that came from sweets to wrap around his body.

 _'So good!'_ The tears came back full force and dribbled down his whisker marked cheeks. He didn't bother wiping at them cuz more would just take their place. He believed to be kidding himself when he made that stupid wish **.** Guess he couldn't even fool himself into believing he didn't want someone to love him like all the other kids who had parents to love and care for them.

Maybe he didn't deserve to be loved.

Demons aren't supposed to be loved.

He knew he was a bad kid. Why else would people keep hurting him. He wished he knew what horrible thing he did to make them so mad. He's said he's sorry multiple times. He even tried bringing flowers to a lady who broke his arm for "taking away everything she loved." He didn't know what he took from her, but he felt bad for making her so upset. Of course it only ended up with him getting his other arm broken.

He really must be bad if sorry isn't enough to stop the beatings.

He would cry more about it if he hadn't cried all the tears he could cry today.

Crying also made him sleepy. He didn't feel like dragging himself to the old bare mattress on the floor he called a bed. Instead, he allowed himself to fall to his side on the couch cushions, curl up into fetal position, and fall asleep with the taste of sweet food in his mouth.

* * *

 **I already know how my story is gonna play out but I'll try to update at least once a week.**

 **Next chapter: The Crazy Cat Lady**


	2. Chapter 2: The Crazy Cat Lady

**MY FINGERS! THEY HURT!**

 **DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO! Except for the crazy cat lady.**

* * *

The Next Day

Naruto walked the alleyways of Market Street. If he walked in the open, he'd be an open target. He managed to scrounge up some change for a cup of ramen for dinner.

All he had to do was somehow slip unnoticed into the general store, grab his food, pay that old man at the counter, then slip back out to the alley and run home.

He'd never leave his house if he didn't have to find food all the time. He used to get money in the mail, but then it stopped coming. So he was always looking for ways to make money so he could buy food. Not that anyone would hire a monster.

He finally made it to the back of the general store.

Now comes the hard part.

Naruto crouched down and tip-toed around the corner to the open street. He peeked out to see if anyone was looking his way. All it takes is one glance at him for the demon hunt to begin!

Fortunately, nobody was looking towards him or the general store doors.

Now's his chance.

Still crouched, he hurried himself to the storefront, shoved open the doors and closed them behind him.

"Safe!" He blurted out. Realizing his mistake, he instantly put his hands on his mouth.

"Eh? Who's there?" Questioned the old man sweeping in front of the counter.

Naruto froze.

The old man looked his way and said, "Oh! It's only you little one. You here to run some errand for your mommy, young lady?"

Naruto almost forgot that the old fart was blind as a bat.

And always mistook him to be a little girl.

Disguising his voice the best he could he replied in a high squeaky voice.

"YES SIR!"

"Good girl! Kids are so helpful these days!" The old man cheered as he went back to sweeping.

Naruto quickly ducked into the nearest aisle. ' _Ouch! I almost busted my OWN ear!'_ He thought as he put a finger in his ear to soothe the ache his girly voice created.

He quickly made his way to the aisle with instant meals. He knew what brand of ramen he wanted.

The hard part was choosing which flavor.

He never had a solid favorite. It was all good to him. Beef, chicken, shrimp...

 _*Grrrrrrrrrr*_

His stomach growled angrily at his hungry thoughts. His face scrunched up at this. He had to make a decision NOW!

 _'Umm...uhh...Mmmmm...BEEF!'_ He smiled at his choice and swiped the nearest beef flavored ramen cup.

He cautiously padded to the counter just as another customer left. He went up and reached over the top to place his cup in front of the blinding man.

 _'I hate being short!'_

The old man tallied his up his price and Naruto reached into his pockets and handed over every bit of change he had on the countertop.

As the old man counted his change, Naruto wondered. _'How does he count money when he can't even read a big lettered sign?'_

The old man finished and reached over to hand Naruto back one coin. Naruto quickly pocketed it and grabbed his ramen.

"Thank you!" He said in a girl voice.

"Anytime young lady. Come again!"

Naruto peeked out the doors once more to check for would-be assailants. Which could be anyone!

It seemed safe enough. He walked out from behind the doors so he could sneak back to the safety of the alleyway.

"Hey monster boy!"

Naruto froze once again.

He'd been spotted!

"I'm talking to you, you little demon shit!"

Naruto slowly turned to see three older boys glaring at him. All were wearing ninjas headbands. The biggest one seemed to have a hard on for him. Yet another person he didn't remember wronging in his lifetime.

"What are you doing out of your hole, you little worm! I thought we told you go crawl back in it and die! Guess we'll have to teach you a lesson again." The boy cracked his knuckles.

Naruto still had bruises from last week's lesson. Clutching his ramen cup, he dashed down the street.

"Get him!" The boys immediately tailed him as he turned the corner towards the Ninja Academy.

The academy was no place to hide. The teachers will see to that. He was far from Ichiraku's and his apartment. Where could he hide?! He can't keep running forever!

"Move your asses! We're gaining on him!

As he ran through the housing district past the Hokage Monument, he saw a collection of tall trees. He thought about losing them in there, but it was close to the edge of the Forest of Death.

He pondered in his head, _'Would I rather get pummeled by these douchebags? Or get eaten by some random creature?'_

"When I catch you, I'm gonna thrash you til you shit your pants! Then I'm gonna make you eat it!"

 _'Getting eaten doesn't sound so bad once you think about it.'_ He made a sharp turn into the woods.

As he weaved the trees, he looked for a bush to hide in. Or something like that. Anywhere will do, as long as it gets him away from these genin gorillas!

"You think you can lose us in the woods?! We may be genin, but we're still better skilled ninjas than you!" The boys started jumping into the treetops.

 _'Great! I might as well of dug my own grave and saved them the trouble!'_

As Naruto lost hope, he then saw an unusual sight.

A house! In the woods of all places!

Seeing no alternative, he scurried over to find a place to hide. He looked around and saw little wooden boxes with legs and tiny holes. Just small enough for him to fit!

He dived to the nearest one, landing just short of the leather flap that served as the doors to the tiny house. He moved it over and crawled in. Still clutching onto his ramen cup, he curled his whole body inside the tiny wooden hut.

As he heard footsteps from the trees heading towards the house, he stopped breathing.

"Where'd that little ass-wipe go now?!" Yelled one of boys as he landed on the ground.

"Hey boss! Who lives here in the ass end of the village?" One boy said to the older boy.

The older boy replied, "Some crazy old cat lady from what I hear."

"I heard that she collects cats and fries 'em up and eats 'em!" Says the other boy

"Bullshit!" Said the older boy, still oblivious of Naruto hiding only a few feet from where he's standing.

"If she eats them, why does my dad say she's been keeping over a hundred of them for over nine years?"

"Hey boss. If there are over a hundred cats here...then where are they?"

Naruto started to wonder the same thing. He hadn't seen a single cat since he set foot here.

 ***Rrrrrrrrraaaaaarrrrr***

A deep rumbling growl resonated through his hiding spot. Naruto gulped and uncurled his head to look down the other end of the box.

Two glowing yellow eyes stared back at him.

 _'Oh...shit.'_

The three boys started looking around for any sign of their blond target when-

"YEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOWWWRRRRRRR!"

A deep yowl filled the woods followed by pained screams. Not long after, a bitten and scratched Naruto tumbled out of the occupied cat hut. Ramen cup still in his hands.

"There you are, you little turd nugget!" Yelled the older boy. "I'm gonna make you wish that cat killed you first before I got to you!"

Naruto, face covered with claw marks, could only sit as the boys closed in on him. _'Maybe they'll actually kill me. That way the adults can't do worse than these guys can do to me anymore.'_ Naruto clenched his eyes shut as they raised their fists at him.

"WHAT ARE YOU LITTLE FUCKERS DOING ON MY PROPERTY!"

A feminine voice shouted to heavens, halting the boys' advance on Naruto.

Naruto looked to the house to see a fiery red haired young woman wearing a long violet jacket over a cream colored yukata with the ANGRIEST expression on her face. Her green eyes screamed lividity, while her fists and posture simply said "you're fucked!"

Unlike Nauto, the boys didn't seemed intimidated.

"Look guys! It's that crazy old cat lady my dad told me about!" Jeered the older boy.

"She doesn't look old."

"She does look crazy though."

The red haired woman suddenly shouted, "YOU WANNA COME SAY THAT TO MY FACE YOU LITTLE SHITS?!"

The older boy seemingly brushed her off. "Pfft. Yeah right. I got better things to do than chat with a crazy old lady. Right boys?"

"Yeah boss!"

"That's right bo-" THWACK!

One of the younger boys fell flat on his back. The other two looked to see a wooden sandle planted on his face.

"Dude!" Yelled the other younger boy. "Are you alive?"

The sandle popped off, leaving its shoe print on his face. He was disoriented, but alive.

All the boys, Naruto included, looked at the angry woman to see she held the sandle's twin in her left hand.

"You crazy bitch! I'll get you for that!" The other younger boy started to charge at the woman. As he neared her place on the doorstep, a fist flew at his stomach and punched the breath out of him.

As he fell to his knees, he fought to regain his composure. Once he caught his breath, his stomach suddenly lurched! Next thing he knew, his lunch was making its way out of his mouth.

The older boy visibly trembled as his friend emptied his stomach.

"You can't do that! I'll tell my dad on you!"

"You're supposed to be genin?! WHAT SHITTY EXCUSES FOR NINJAS YOU ARE!" The woman berated in her loudest tone. "WHAT'S THIS VILLAGE COMING TO WHEN YOUNG NINJAS RUN AROUND ABUSING THEIR SKILLS LIKE SPOILED LITTLE PUNKS! YOU LOT HAVE TO BE THE WORST NINJAS I'VE EVER FUCKING SEEN!"

Naruto almost wanted to cover his ears at her loudness. She had to be louder than a lion's roar!

The older boy got angry at her statement.

"I'll show you whose the worst!" The boy reached behind him and suddenly threw three actual kunai at the loud woman.

Naruto covered his eyes as they flew so he wouldn't see what happened.

KLINK!

Naruto peeked behind his fingers to see the three kunai embedded in the wooden door.

 _'Where'd she go?'_ He thought.

The other boy looked around for the woman when Naruto suddenly gasped. He looked at the battered blond boy in confusion. Before he knew it, he was being lifted off his feet into the air.

The angry red haired woman stood behind him, holding the kicking boy by his shirt collar.

"Put me down, you old hag! Put me down!"

She suddenly pulled him close to put her mouth next to his ear."You know what I do to little kids who trespass?" She spoke in an eerie soft voice.

The boy trembled and shook his head.

She suddenly pulled a knife out of her long violet sleeve and held it in front of his terrified face.

"I cut them into little pieces and feed them to my cats." She spoke in a sweet sickening voice.

As if on cue, dozens of cats appeared around them. Some came out of the little cat huts, while others walked out from behind the house.

Naruto had never seen so many cats in one place. They were even on the roof!

Naruto looked back at the scared boy to see a puddle had formed under his dangling feet.

The woman held the knife a little closer. "So unless you wanna end up on today's menu, you and your piss-ant little friends better stay the fuck off my property!" She lightly pressed the knife on his cheek. "GOT IT?"

The terrified boy quickly nodded.

"That's a good little piss pot!" She then dropped him to the ground. He tripped over himself trying to get on his feet. Once he did, he high tailed out of there. His friends followed soon after.

Naruto stared at the scary lady. He could only imagine what she will do to him. He didn't know if he could handle another beating.

The red headed woman looked him straight in the eyes. Naruto began shaking like a leaf.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU LOOKING AT?!" The woman pointed towards town. "GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE!"

' _She's...not gonna hurt me?'_

"ARE YOU FUCKING DEAF OR SOMETHING?! GET THE FUCK OUT!"

Naruto instantly complied and ran back towards town. He didn't stop until he reached his apartment. Once he had the door closed behind him and locked tight, he fell against it and slid down to the floor while letting out a deep breath.

Then a thought hit him. He made it through today without a single beating!

 _'Well...if you don't count the cat scratches.'_

And he got some food to boot, as he remembered the ramen cup he nearly crushed out of fear.

Today was...all things considered...a good day.

* * *

 **Welp! You've met the crazy cat lady, and you're only going to see more of her!**

 **And yes, she has a VERY foul mouth.**

 **Feel free to review!**


	3. Chapter 3: Gritty Tastes

**Chapter 3! First time I ever posted a Chapter 3 in any story I've written on here! Writing everything that comes to mind without worry of perfection seems to be working.**

 **I hope y'all would agree!**

 **DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO!**

* * *

Three days had passed since Naruto's encounter with the "crazy cat lady." He currently sat in his dingy apartment once again with no food. The beef ramen was long gone, and he had no more money. Right now, he sat on his couch thinking about that angry woman who terrified those genin bullies.

She had to be the scariest lady he'd ever met.

As well as the only adult to ever look at him, and not raise her hand to him.

 _'I still don't get why she didn't hurt me like those boys. Was it cuz I didn't say anything mean to her? Or was I not worth her time.'_

Naruto considered the latter.

He never said any mean words to the other villagers and he gets beaten regardless. She had to be no different than all the other adults.

Except for the cat collection.

Naruto never liked or disliked cats. He hated dogs though! One time he passed by the Inuzuka home, and they sicked their dog on him. He almost lost his right foot because of them. Damn thing chewed it down to the bone!

Mangy mongrel!

 ***grrrrooowwwl***

His empty stomach only seemed to intensify his anger. He needed food! He needed money to buy food. He needed a job to get money!

He shuddered when he thought of the "alternative ways" he had gotten money in the past. He didn't want to anymore, but sometimes he had no choice. He needed money. And they needed...

Bile rose in his throat. His stomach acids stung his esophagus and left a bitter taste on his tongue.

He curled up and hugged his knees. If he still got money sent to him like before, he wouldn't have had to resort to those methods.

He remembered wandering the dirty streets one night. He was cold and hungry. A man approached him and asked if he wanted to make some money. If he knew what he was agreeing to back then, he wouldn't have agreed so eagerly. Twenty minutes later, his mouth was sore and filled with disgusting things. Then the man threw him enough money to sustain him for a week.

He hated it. But he thought he could put up with it if it meant getting a lot of money to eat for a week.

That's where he was wrong.

REALLY wrong!

They started wanting him to do more than use his mouth. They wanted to touch him in places he didn't like being touched. They wanted him to touch them. Then they wanted to-

 _'No! No! NOOOO!'_ He raised his fists to bang on his head. He didn't want to think about it! It was too upsetting!

He had to get his mind on something else! What was he thinking about before? Something about cats and food.

Cats? FOOD!

He uncurled himself off his couch at the realization. That cat lady had a gazillion cats! So she must have tons of things for them eat! Even if it is that crappy store bought stuff, it was still food! She has so many, he doubted she'd even notice if a little went missing. If he was lucky, maybe there would be meat and fish alongside their regular cat food.

It sounded fool-proof to Naruto! But then another thought came.

That cat lady...was SCARE-REE!

If she caught him, he'd end up as cat food himself! She might cut him up like she said to that boy. While he was alive no less!

Who knew?!

He had to come up with a plan fast! He could...sneak up there at night, grab what he could carry and run home before she knew he was there!

It was the best plan he had. It was the only plan he had now that he thought about it.

 _'Guess all there is to do is wait til dark.'_ He thought as he sat on his couch and waited patiently for dusk. He looked up to his clock to see it was 12:34 pm.

'This...could take awhile.'

* * *

 **11:53 pm**

Naruto walked the dark streets of Konoha, determined to not go home hungry tonight. Keeping to the alleyways as usual, he tried to retrace his steps back to the lonely house in the woods. Hard to do since he was running for his life at the time.

He remembered the direction of the Forest of Death because his sensei at the academy(before they kicked him out for being an idiot) told him and the other kids to NEVER go in there! Never said why to him. Could be the cat lady was the reason why.

He'd believe it now if not then.

He turned right at the Hokage monument and through the housing district once more. He hid in the nearest corner when he saw a couple of chunin pass by. (presumably on patrol)

When he made it to the edge of the familiar woods, he tried to remember which way he was running when he came across the house.

...Nothing came to him.

The child stomped his foot to the ground in frustration.

 _'Damn it! If walk in there without a clue of where I'm going, I'm gonna get lost in a millisecond!'_

Naruto pressed his fingers hard against his temples to try and jog his memory.

"Mreow!"

Naruto stopped to look at the source of the sudden noise.

It was a cat. An orange-black spotted cat. A very FAT orange-black spotted cat.

It sat on its hauches and stared at the frustrated boy with lazy squinted green eyes.

Naruto didn't like it.

"What are YOU looking at?! Never seen a hungry monster look for food before?!" Naruto shouted at the animal.

The cat casually licked its paw, then wiped its spotted face.

 _'...What am I DOING? I'm walking around late at night looking for food. Now I'm yelling at a cat. A cat for Kami's sake!'_

 ***Grrrrrrrrrr***

"I must be hungrier than I thought." He muttered while holding his stomach. "Cuz now I'm talking at a cat thinking it can understand me, let alone judge me."

The chubby cat suddenly stood up and started pawing at Naruto's leg.

"What do you want? I don't have any food. That's kinda the reason why I'm out here."

The cat then turned and walked towards the woods. It stopped to look back at Naruto before it took off running.

 _'Does he want me to follow him?'_ He pondered. _'Welp! What other choice have I got?!'_

Naruto quickly ran after the spotted cat into the deep woods. The fat cat was surprisingly fast, but thankfully his colorful fur stood out in the moonlight. After weaving through countless trees, the cat led him to it's destination.

Which happened to be Naruto's desired place to be tonight!

The cat lady's house in the woods.

 _'This must be his home.'_ Naruto looked to the cat to see it walk to one of the little cat huts and squeeze it's way inside the small flap. He also took note of the lack of other cats once more.

 _'Must be their bedtime. I didn't even know cats had a bedtime.'_ Naruto scratched his head in thought. Then he remembered why he was there. _'Why I am thinking on this? I need to find where that lady keeps the food!'_

Naruto began to survey the exterior of the house. Its wrap-around porch was littered with cat dishes! Naruto looked in them to see if they held any food.

They were all empty.

 _'Man! These cats don't waste anything, do they?'_ He thought as he checked bowl after bowl.

He found nothing but crumbs.

Naruto frowned deeply. There had to be food somewhere! Naruto jumped off the porch and snuck to the back of the house. He found a open air shed with tools, lumber, rope, fishing poles, and best of all, giant bags of cat food!

 _'I knew it! She has enough to open her own pet store!'_ Naruto thought excitedly while rubbing his hands. _'Guess I'll grab a bag and-'_

A light came on!

"Yikes!" He squeaked. Naruto scrambled to find a hiding place as several more were lit. 'Ah ha!' He saw a hole in the wooden grates next to the back steps! He shoved himself in between, scraping himself til he managed to get all the way in.

 _'Now I know how that fat cat feels!'_ He lied himself in the dirt as he saw a pair of bare feet walk down from the steps towards the shed.

Sure enough, it was the crazy cat lady!

The red haired woman walked over to the cat food then easily heaved one of the giant bags on her shoulder and walked back to the porch. Naruto winced as the wood creaked over his head from the woman's added extra weight. He heard a ripping sound and the woman calling out.

"DINNER TIME!"

A pittering sound rang out above his head. He crawled to her side of the porch and saw cat food raining down from the side. A million meows soon filled the night as the cats came out from hiding or from the cat huts. The cat food rain started moving along the porch so as to fill every bowl along the way. He then heard the crunching and chewing of a hundred cat mouths as they dug into their seemingly unending bounty.

 _'These cats have it so good! Lucky little bastards!'_ He thought bitterly as he saw dozens of cats forgoing the cat bowls and eating from the ground. Naruto listened for the cat lady who had stopped walking the porch once the food rain stopped. He stopped breathing when he saw a pair of feet suddenly jump down in front of him.

The feet then walked away from him to the nearby incinerator. The now empty cat food bag was tossed in and she lit the fire. Guess she was too self-sufficient to have a garbage can like everyone else.

As the fire came alive, Naruto got a good look at her face. Her face was framed by her bangless red hair with green eyes holding a far from calmed expression. Naruto couldn't place the look on her face. She wasn't as angry as before. But she wasn't exactly happy looking either. She looked like something between angry and sad.

The fat orange-black cat from before suddenly came up to her and nuzzled her leg. A tiny hint of a smile came to her face as she bent down to pet him. The appreciative feline purred in response.

"So you've come back. Huh Tama-chan? Do you have tales to tell from the outside?"

"Mreooow!" Replied Tama the cat.

"Really now?" She tended the flames as she talked to the chatty cat.

Naruto couldn't believe his eyes. This lady was having an in-depth conversation...with a cat!

 _'Maybe she really is crazy.'_ Naruto counted himself really lucky that he somehow didn't incite this woman's wrath on him three days ago.

Once she finished burning the trash, she turned back to the house and jumped back on the porch. He heard the opening and shutting of a door, but the light remained on.

He needed to be careful!

Naruto crawled back to the hole in the grate and carefully squeezed back out. He looked at the huge bags of cat food and realized.

 _'There's no way I can carry that back! It's as big as I am!'_ Naruto then looked to the happily feasting cats. Maybe he could grab a few bowls and just refill them every few days.

Naruto walked up to them and picked up an un-eaten bowl of food. The cats gave Naruto a glance before they resumed eating. Naruto grabbed a single pellet and popped it in his mouth.

Naruto chewed into it making a face at the taste.

 _'How can they eat this crap?! It's so bitter! And gritty! Why couldn't they eat fish?! Or something tastier?!'_ Naruto inwardly complained as he swallowed, but his hungry stomach rejoiced at the feeling of ingestion. Naruto couldn't complain at the thought of a full stomach. He dove face first into the bowl and devoured the bitter food.

Once his bowl was clean, he grabbed another. He cleaned out nine bowls before he felt full for the first time in a long time.

 ***BUUURP***

 _'God that stuff tastes terrible! But at least I'm full!'_ Naruto thought optimistically. He looked to the cats that continued to dine and decided to grab more bowls to take home. He grabbed about ten in all and tried to balance them in his arms as he, being mindful of the porch lights, awkwardly walked back to the forest.

 _'I'm gonna have to remember to bring a bag, a jar, or something to carry all this crappy food!'_ He inwardly yelled at himself.

He looked back at the cat-populated house. He felt bad for stealing their food, but they had ten-times more where it came from! They have more food than he ever had! Let's hope the cat lady doesn't find out, or he's doomed!

 _'Well I was already doomed to begin with. Don't see that changing anytime soon!'_

The front door shifted open!

Naruto hustled behind a tree where the light couldn't catch him. He looked at the door to see the red haired woman once again. She surveyed her yard with that angry-sad face of hers, which only seemed to get more sadder as the night went on. Seemingly satisfied, she switched off all the porch lights and closed the door.

Naruto sighed deeply. He didn't know if he could keep doing this.

 _'No! I can do this! I rather risk sneaking around for cat food than letting people touch me for money!'_

He turned back to the woods once more. Then he heard a distinct sounding "mreow!"

He looked down to see that fat orange-black cat again (now identified as Tama). It looked at him suspiciously with those squinted eyes.

"What?! I'm hungry, okay! I'm just taking a little. You don't look like you're about to starve to death!" He said in regards to the cat's heavy stature. _'I'm talking to it again!'_ Naruto was beginning to question his sanity.

Tama, of course, said nothing. Then he did the strangest thing.

The overweight cat shrugged his shoulders, then waved his paw at him in a "shooing" motion.

Naruto was speechless.

Afterwards, he went to join his now full and sleepy feline brethren. He squeezed his body back into his cat hut and curled up to sleep.

 _'That's one weird cat. Maybe that lady isn't so crazy after all.'_

He picked himself up and carefully walked back to town with his cat food cache.

After an hour of ducking and dodging the nighttime citizens, Naruto finally made it home. He walked into his kitchen and set his ten bowls of cat food on the dining table. He then went searching in his cupboards and cabinets for something to hold all his cat slop.

He found an empty cereal box. Throwing away the empty plastic bag on the inside, he proceeded to pour all his bitter cat pellets into the box. Once all ten cat dishes were empty, the boy struggled to put his cereal box of cat food in the highest cupboard his eight-year old legs and arms could reach.

'That should tie me over for a little while.' He was quite proud of himself. He managed to sneak in and out unnoticed and grab food without that cat lady finding him.

Maybe. Just maybe...he'll be okay for a while.

He has no reason to leave his house for the next few days, and nobody ever bothers to come up to his house just to wail on him. They prefer catching him in streets, or throwing things through his window.

He could build a house with all the bricks they've thrown at him.

Naruto yawned and looked at his clock.

It read 2:03 am.

 _'It's late. Better go to bed.'_ Naruto headed to his bedroom, stripping his dirty shirt off as he went.

Naruto had no real "bedtime" like most kids, but he did appreciate a good night's sleep. He didn't get too many of those it seemed.

Between the nightmares and those sleepless nights after his "nightly jobs", he rarely got a full eight hours.

Naruto jumped on his frame-less mattress in only his underpants, and covered himself with a wool blanket.

He was grateful for his blanket. Winter will come soon and it was the only thing that will keep him from freezing to death. He wrapped himself up like a sushi roll and snuggled his pillow.

He felt comfy tonight. He was full, and now lying safe and warm in his bed.

BREAK!

A brick labeled "KILLER" flew through his window and over his bed, landing just before his bedroom door.

At least he was warm.

* * *

 **More on our favorite lady next chapter!**

 **Please review.**


	4. Chapter 4: One Way to Skin a Cat

**Sorry for the wait. Lack of inspiration due to summer heat and typical misery inducing bullshit.**

 **But, with time, misery can be turned into inspiration.**

 **If you have enough positivity to fall back on that is.**

* * *

Naruto had isolated himself in his apartment for the last week and a half. With his stash of cat food, he had no reason to risk going out in broad daylight for food anymore. He's snuck over twice to the cat lady's house for more food. And with no close calls!

Only ones who've seen him were the cats. _'Good thing they can't rat me out.'_

The cat food tasted terrible, but it kept his belly full. _'I still prefer ramen over this cat crap!'_ What he wouldn't give for some miso ramen right now.

Right now, Naruto sat on the floor in his favorite orange pants and a dirty white shirt with the Leaf symbol in red. He was currently busy drawing a crayon picture of himself chopping off a guy's head.* He drew this dinstinct man because he once stuck something inside him after breaking his leg.

Despite that though, he was quite glad with himself right now. Nobody has been able to hurt him, cuz he never leaves his home until late at night. So his bruises have finally had the chance to heal properly.

People still threw things through his window though.

Still. It wasn't the worst thing that could happen. And he's had worse!

 _'Do all bad kids have it as bad as me?'_ He'd never met any other bad kids like him. Those genin boys always hurt him. That's being bad. Right?

No. It's because he's bad that they hurt him. They weren't being bad for hurting someone bad. Good people are supposed to fight the bad people.

But he didn't want to fight. Despite his violent drawing, he didn't really want to hurt anyone. Good kids don't pick fights, and they definitely don't try to really hurt people.

Naruto didn't do neither, so why was he bad? The villagers keep telling him how he hurt people, even killed them.

Naruto never killed anybody, not even a mouse. He tried asking why countless times, but all it ever got him was a punch in the mouth. He's tried going to the Hokage for help, but the guards always chase him away.

 _'Guess I'm just a bad kid.'_ Naruto thought as he dropped his crayons and placed his chin in his hands. _'No matter what I do, nothing will change that. No matter how good I try to be.'_

Naruto tried to accept that fact, but that didn't mean he was going to stop being good! He tried to remember why.

 _'There's Mr. Ichiraku and Ayame. They're nice to me. And they make great ramen! Aaaand...the landlord lets me live here despite how bad I am. And he HATES me! Mostly cuz I keep getting his windows broken. There's also...the Hokage I guess. But he barely visits me anymore. And that one teacher at the academy was okay...til they kicked me out.'_

Naruto's thoughts started going downhill.

 _'They said I wasn't smart enough. Actually they said I was a complete idiot. Couldn't even get the transformation jutsu right. Everyone always laughed at me for it. And then they'd find me after class and pick on me. Then after I leave, the villagers would beat me. Then I crawl home to no one who loved me. And-'_ "AH!"

Naruto suddenly grasped his stomach!

He jumped off the floor and quickly ran to the bathroom. After pulling down his orange pants, he sat on the toilet and painfully let go of his bowels.

While the cat food kept him fed, it destroyed his insides! The past few days, going to the bathroom was a literal pain in the ass! They way his stool scraped against the walls of his anus, it felt like he was squeezing out a pinecone!

 _'I can't keep eating this crap! But I can't afford anything else!'_ "Oooowwww!" He groaned painfully.

* * *

After several minutes of painful constipation, Naruto finally exited the bathroom.

His digestive issues were definitely NOT on his list of positives. And to make things worse, he was hungry again.

 _'Not like I gotta choice.'_ He thought as he went to eat more cat food.

He reached up into the top cabinet and pulled his cereal box of cat food. But it felt horribly light in his hand.

He opened it up and poured it onto his hand. Nothing but crumbs.

"Guess I gotta go get more tonight." He said as he put down the empty box and went to the cupboard to grab a big glass jar to carry the cat food he was going steal.

He didn't look forward to going to that cat lady's house. The past three times he sneaked over there, he was completely terrified she was gonna find him and chop him to bits like she said.

Then again, he'd had people threaten with worse things. One guy said if he ever came near his clothes store again, he'd cut off his thing!

Naruto shivered and covered his crotch at the thought. Getting castrated wasn't worth trying to buy new clothes. Hence why he always wore the same pair of orange pants and one of only two shirts he owned.

Once he got his jar, he went back to his living area to kill time until nighttime. He sat back down on the floor with his crayons and paper and, after setting his jar aside, resumed to color red blotches all over the drawing of the headless man and himself with a sword.

"That'll teach you not to put your thing inside me!" said Naruto as he begin stabbing at the crayon drawing with his red crayon.

* * *

Nighttime rolled around, and Naruto was already off with his empty jar to once again steal from the cat lady's cat food cache.

Navigating the forest with better ease, he finally made it to the little pink house. He never noticed it's color til the second time he snuck over. It was...cute?

Nah. Nothing about this lady read "cute." Scary and hot-blooded. Definitely!

Naruto made sure all the lights were out before sneaking onto the property. The cats were sleeping or hiding somewhere as usual. Even that fat orange-black spotted cat named Tama.

Thankfully, they never come out at night unless the lady comes out to feed them. He figured out the feeding schedule on the first night so he wouldn't get caught. As Naruto made his way over to the little bits of leftover cat food on the porch, a smell caught his nose. He lifted his nose in the air to get a better whiff.

It smelled...fishy.

Crawling on all fours, with his jar on his back, Naruto sniffed his way to a large shed just beside the open storage area that held the lady's cat food and supplies.

The door was cracked, and emitting a soft light from inside. The fishy smell was coming from there!

Still on his hands and feet, Naruto slithered to the door and peeked inside. The light came from a ceiling top lamp, hovering over a giant fish tank!

A big grin broke out on his face.

 _'FISH!'_

Naruto couldn't contain his excitement! A giant fish tank stood at the end of the room filled with to the brim with big shimmering, yummy-looking mackerel!

He could fit several in his jar to take home for later!

His mouth began leaking drool at the thought of grilled fish, sashimi, fried fish, fish cakes! Hell! Forget about cooking! He'll eat it while it was raw and wriggling!

 _'I'm having fish TONIGHT!'_

As he scurried over to the tank, he failed to see the tripwire. Next thing he knew, a net appeared beneath his feet and swiftly lifted him off his feet, making him drop his glass jar in the process and shatter to pieces on the floor! Naruto now hung from the ceiling wrapped securely in a nylon net. Naruto was quick to register just what had happened to him.

He'd been caught.

Like a thieving little rat believing he found free cheese on a mousetrap, he'd been lured and caught by the smell of tasty fish.

The shed door opened revealing his captor.

The redheaded cat lady with those livid green eyes. And they were trained on him!

She held a flashlight to his face, temporarily blinding him.

"Well now. Ain't this a surprise." She said in that sickly sweet voice from before. "I set up a trap expecting a raccoon, a possum, or something like that. But nooo! Instead I catch a kid!" As she talked, that sick looking smile never left her face.

Naruto was petrified! She was going to chop him up, he knew it! His blue eyes wide and fearful, he began to cry.

"P-please. Don't...hurt me." He pleaded as his tears ran down his face.

The cat lady's angry gaze held strong at his tears. "Don't give me that crying bullshit! You wanna tell me why the fuck I caught you trying to steal my mackerel?! Or better yet, why you've been stealing my cats' food?!"

She knew! Oh dear God, she knew! He was dead for sure!

He knew it was useless to apologize. Best to just accept he was probably going to die tonight. _'At least my body won't go to waste when the cats eat it.'_ Naruto curled himself up into a little ball, and closed his eyes.

The cat lady became confused at the boy's change in demeanor. One second ago, he's bawling like a baby. Now he's gone quiet.

What kid goes quiet while hanging in a net like a trapped mouse?

"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" She asked angrily. Shining her light for a better look at him, she asked once more. "Why. Are. You. Steeeealiing. MY FOOD!"

Naruto stayed silent. _'Why is she interrogating me? Just kill me already!'_

The red haired lady only became angrier at his silence. This kid was caught red-handed, and was trying to weasel his way out of it. Not on her watch!

In her calmest voice, she spoke again.

"I'm gonna ask you one more time. If you don't answer me..." Suddenly, she cut down the net containing the scared little boy and began to dangle him over the shattered remains of his glass jar. "...you'll be going home to your mommy with shards in your ass!"

Naruto began to panic again. He didn't want to spend his potentially "last day on Earth" digging pieces of glass out of his butt. As for the mommy statement, Naruto almost wanted to laugh. Instead he blurted out.

"I WAS HUNGRY! OKAY?!" Naruto yelled at the angry woman. "I just... I just needed to something to eat." Naruto then went silent again. He prepared himself for the glass about to dig in his skin.

But it never came.

The cat lady did a double take in her mind. This boy...was stealing her cat food...so he could eat it?

Eat it for fuck's sake!

 _'I've seen some crazy shit in my day. But THIS is a new fucked-up kind of crazy!'_ She gave a look over of the scared boy. He WAS kinda skinny. Too skinny actually.

Naruto suddenly found himself swung over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes. The woman carried him out of her fish shed and unceremoniously dropped him to the ground.

"OOF!" uttered Naruto as he fell on his rump. Once he fumbled his way out of the net, he stood up and rubbed a soothing hand on his sore bottom.

He slowly made eye contact with the cat lady to see her expression wasn't as angry from before.

Now she looked just plain irritated.

"You know how much money goes into feeding these cats?" she asked with a squinted stare.

Naruto could only bawk at her question.

"I said DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH?!"

Naruto flinched at her tone.

How could he know?! He only knew the value of his rent and that of a bowl of ramen. She continued to stare at him, as if she was expecting a straight answer. Naruto, still fearing for his life, answered as best he could.

"Umm...F-fifteen hundred ryo?"

...

He gulped when she looked at him like he just grew an extra head.

"Fifteen hundred? Try FIFTEEN FUCKING THOUSAND!" she screamed.

Naruto paled at the price. He wouldn't be able to afford that in a hundred years!

"I don't...h-have that kind of...money." he stuttered.

"No shit! If you had money, you wouldn't be stealing my cat food! Would you?!"

"No! I swear!" Naruto pleaded.

"I'LL be doing the fucking swearing around here! YOU have been taking food away from my cats' mouths! You think I'm fucking idiot? That I wouldn't notice a little brat like you sneaking on my property?!"

"N-no. I don't!"

"GOOD! Now get the fuck off my-" She suddenly cut off her own sentence and a smirk began to form on her face. "...No. You know what. I've got a better idea." That smirk began to turn into that familiar sick, twisted looking smile.

Naruto froze on the spot.

What was she gonna do to him?! Chop him up? Cut off his head? Let her cats eat him? ALIVE?

Or was she gonna...put her hands on him?!

 _'No! NO! Anything but THAT!'_

The cat lady stared at the frightened child as he began to tremble from her words. _'He acts like I'm really gonna hurt him. It'd be pathetic if he wasn't so...little and...vulnerable.'_

"Will you calm down and listen?!" She ordered in a strong, yet subtle voice.

Naruto did his best to ease his trembling, but failed miserably. Despite that, she continued to speak.

"I've decided on a better way for you to pay me back. YOU are going to come here every weekday, and work off what you owe me!"

Work? What did she mean by work? Did she want him to do things...TO HER?!

"Starting tomorrow morning, you're gonna come here and do my chores for me. Which are raking the yard, cleaning the cat houses, washing their linens, feeding the cats, sweeping the porch AND scrubbing it, incinerating the trash, clean out the gutters,-"

As she continued to list out several menial tasks for him, Naruto tried to take in every word, just so he wouldn't miss if she said "pleasure me." If she did, he'd bolt! He'd rather risk getting killed than do those things with this scary ass lady! But as the list kept going, his brain began to lose focus from so much input at once.

"-clean the fish tank, dust my house, and cut my grass! You get all that?!"

Naruto half blinked stupidly.

The woman wasn't pleased.

"HEY!"

Naruto jumped! He shook his head to try and rid himself of his headache, then stood to attention.

"Sorry."

"What-the-fuck-ever! Just haul your mangy ass here at 8:00 am, sharp! If you're even one minute, I mean, ONE MINUTE LATE! I'll find you and drag you here by your fucking toes! GOT IT?!"

"Yes!"

"Call me ma'am GODDAMITT! Don't you little shits have manners anymore?!"

"YES MA'AM!"

"Good! Now get the fuck outta here!" She yelled and pointed towards town. Naruto turned tail and began to run back to the woods.

"HOLD UP KID!"

Naruto nearly fell as he tried to stop. He turned to look back at the red haired woman. He waited for her to probably yell at him again. What she actually did surprised him.

"What's your name?"

Naruto only stared. _'She doesn't know my name? Everybody knows who I am. Though most people don't even use my name. They mostly call me monster.'_ Naruto didn't want to give out his name in fear she might actually know about him and ended up giving her a face to his notoriously hated name. _'If I tell her and she DOES know who I am, she'll hate me like everyone else. Maybe even hurt me.'_

The woman's face began to scrunch up in anger. Fearing her wrath, Naruto felt his mouth slip up.

"Naruto!"

He froze in preparation for an incoming beating. But the woman only stood there.

Before long she turned back to her pink house and made her way to the door. She stopped before reaching the porch steps.

"Kumineko."

Naruto barely picked up her quick response. "Huh?"

Without looking at him, she replied, "You told me your name. I'm telling you mine. Kumineko."

Kumineko stepped up to her porch then opened her wooden door. "8:00 am. Don't forget." She then went inside, closing the door behind her.

Naruto stood for a moment in the darkness of the night, staring at her door. He'd gotten out unscathed, even acquired a job(actually it was forced on him), but he still had no food. He'd gone to bed hungry before. Tonight would be no different.

As he turned to walk home, a distinct "mreow" caught his ear. Looking to his right, he saw Tama-chan.

And at his furry feet was a mackerel.

The fat cat nudged it towards Naruto with his nose. Was he...giving it to him?

Not one to look a gift horse on the mouth...or in this case, a gift cat...he picked it up and ran into the woods towards his home.

* * *

Kumineko watched out of her kitchen window as the boy ran in the woods. Tama-chan came in through a cat door from the back door and jumped on the counter. Kumineko looked at the chubby animal and scratched his head.

"You're a big fat softie. You know that?"

Tama only responded with a big, kitty grin painted on his round furry face.

* * *

 ***Drawing violent things doesn't necessarily make you a violent person(even if you're a child). Drawing can be a way of venting anger and inner pain. All great artists have expressed their pain at one point in their lives through some kind of art.**

 **Thanks for reading! Review if you may.**

 **Next chapter: Naruto knows the meaning of good, honest labor. Though I wouldn't want a foul mouthed cat lady as my boss.**


	5. Work Like a Cat in Cockle-Shells

**Sorry for the wait.**

 **Animefest took up my time. Not to mention my money! XD**

 **Gotta love the** **convention!**

 **EDIT: I'm HORRIBLE at math! So don't expect perfect numbers on Kumineko's estimate of Naruto's debt.**

* * *

7:45 am

Naruto walked nervously through the alleyways in the early morning light. He'd be tired if he wasn't so terrified of being caught in broad daylight after days of hiding out at home living on cat food.

But it seemed those days were over.

The cat lady, whom he now knew was named Kumineko, had somewhat forcibly employed him to work off all the cat food he stole. She listed off several menial tasks for him already, but he hoped against hope that he wouldn't have to let her lay her hands on him.

He didn't know if he could take anymore of that kind of abuse!

She really seemed to NOT like kids. Especially ones that mouth off at her. Those genin boys were a sterling example. After the incident, the older boy walked around with his head down. He also blatantly avoided Naruto like he had some kind of disease. He supposed he was afraid he'd tell everyone that he saw him pee himself.

 _'If only everyone avoided me like he does, then my life would be a WHOLE lot easier.'_

As he walked past the Hokage monument, his mind switched gears to the fat cat Tama. His opinion towards the heavy-set feline greatly changed after last night when he gifted him with a fresh mackerel.

 _'Mmmmm! Mackerel!'_ Naruto remembered how the moment he got home, he threw that sucker in a pan and fried it up good! He hadn't eaten anything so good in a long time! Let's face it, even a big ramen lover like him can get tired of eating JUST ramen for months on end.

*Grrrrrrrrr*

Naruto rubbed his hungry stomach. Now he wished he had another mackerel for breakfast. _'How am I gonna make it through the day with all the work that woman's gonna lay on me? Ooooohh! Why did I have to run into that STUPID mackerel shed?! Now I'm a slave to some crazy cat lady!'_

 _*GRRRRRRR*_

Naruto groaned and held his stomach. _'I have to remember to not get angry when I'm hungry. It only makes me more hungry!'_

He made it to the edge of the forest and walked the familiar path to the cat lady's pink house. When he reached the front yard, he was greeted with a distinctive "mreow" from fat orange-black cat Tama.

Tama bid Naruto to follow him to the porch. When they reached the porch, Tama turned around and stamped his white paw down on the wooden porch.

Naruto didn't understand his gesture.

Tama scrunched his face and repeatedly stomped his paw. After a few seconds, Naruto's face lit up in recognition.

"Oh! You want me to stay here! Okay."

Tama dipped his head in agreement and turned back to the house to squeeze himself into the cat door. ' _That cat seriously needs to lose some pounds!'_ Thought Naruto as he watched the chubby cat struggle to get through the kitty door. Finally, his belly gave slightly and he popped through the door and into the house.

Naruto waited several minutes outside the door.

He jumped slightly when the door finally opened revealing the half-asleep woman rubbing the sleepies out of her eyes. When she removed her hands, she received a vision of a blond-headed blob.

"Mino-kun?"

Naruto tilted his head at the name.

"Who?"

Naruto's voice startled the woman back into reality. Kumineko shook her head to clear her vision. After running a hand through her long red hair, she put that angry/sad look back on her face.

Looking straight at the boy, she spoke,"Good. You're here. I was just about to come get you." Kumineko walked out the door.

Once her back was turned. Naruto sneered. ' _Yeah right! You were freaking sleeping after you told me to wake up at this ungodly hour! Hypocrite!'_ Naruto wanted so badly to yell that at her, but he knew better than to be mouthy to her after what happened with those boys. Sucking in his retorts, he walked over to were the cat lady was standing in the yard.

Once he reached her, Kumineko stood straight and began to speak in that loud voice of hers.

"Now that you're here, you can start working off all that cat food you stole from me! But first, let me lay down a few ground rules!"

She held up her hand as she listed off the rules.

"Number One: Don't fuck with me!

Number Two: I'm the boss, so consider me the fucking Queen of Cats! What I say goes!

Number Three: No back talk! In other words, keep your smart assed comments to yourself or I'll show you the literal meaning to the phrase 'cat got your tongue!'"

Naruto gulped.

"Number Four: My cats are NOT your personal playthings! They're also not complete fucking idiots. If you do something to piss them off, they'll claw at your ass 'til you shit sideways! Don't fuck with them, and they won't fuck with you!

And Number Five! NO...STEALING!"

The emphasis on that last rule couldn't be put more strictly at him.

"Follow these five simple rules, and everything will be fucking PEACHY! Got it?!"

Naruto nodded frantically!

"Good!" The woman directed his attention to the cat huts.

"Your first job is to clean the insides of the cat houses and change out the linens! You'll find the cleaning supplies and clean linens in that basket over there!" She pointed at the basket on the left hand side of the wrap-around porch. "After you replace the dirty ones, take them behind the house and wash all of them! Once you're done, hang them up to dry then come get me for your next job! Comprende?!"

Naruto nodded.

"Good!" Kumineko walked back to the house. She stepped up to the porch, but stopped to say, "Oh by the way. I'd wear gloves while you're doing that. Some cats like to 'mark their territory' all over the linens. It stinks to high heaven." She then walked back inside.

Naruto stared at the door for several seconds before turning to the cat huts. Marking their territory? In other words, pee. And there was over thirty cat houses on the front lawn!

Naruto stuck his lip out. _'This stinks!'_

A thought then ran through his head. _'I could run away. But then she'd track me down like she said. Or I could say something, but then she'd cut out my tongue.'_ He seemed to have no way out of this mess.

But then, Naruto shook his head. _'No! I got myself into this, and I have to pay for it! Even if it means having to work for that scary lady! And I won't get nothing done if I stand here and pout!'_ But he made a note that if she tried to make him do anything OTHER than manual labor, he'll bolt! Even if it costs him his life!

He went over to the basket of clean linens and grabbed the disinfectant spray and scrub brush. He then took a deep breath, puffed out his chest, and walked to the first cat hut. He sat on his knees and slowly, but carefully, moved the leather door flap aside.

The smell hit him like a ton of bricks! Naruto's hands flew up to cover his nose and mouth.

"Grooooooss!"

 _'When was the last time she changed this thing?!'_ Naruto then remembered something. _'Gloves! She did say to wear those.'_

But then he remembered something else.

 _'She never told me where the fucking gloves were! Great! Now she has me cussing too!'_

He REALLY didn't want to go ask her where the gloves are. She was specific about not bothering her, or fucking with her as she said. But he also didn't want to touch those pee-pee covered blankets with his bare hands!

He turned to go to the house, but received a surprise in the form of Tama sitting on the porch with a pink cloth bundle hanging from his mouth. And at his feet sat...

A pair of adult sized yellow rubber gloves!

Naruto grinned and scurried over to the chubby cat. When he came over, Tama dropped the bundle of cloth and nudged it towards Naruto. Naruto picked it up and untied the knot to reveal another unexpected surprise.

Two yummy rice balls wrapped in seaweed.

Naruto gaped at the cat. Tama responded with a huge Cheshire grin.

First the mackerel, now the gloves and rice balls. This cat was full of surprises!

Naruto reached a hesitant hand to the cat's fuzzy head. Tama met him halfway and rubbed his head against the boy's hand. Naruto ran his hand down the chubby cat's back, making him lift his rear in response.

"You...you're not so bad. For a cat at least."

"MREOW!" Tama meowed happily.

He then ran back to the front door and attempted to squeeze his way back inside. Naruto cringed again as he saw the cat cram his fat belly through the tiny door. _'Poor fat bastard.'_

Naruto wasted no time in wolfing down his rice balls. Once he was finished, he put on the yellow gloves and breathed as much fresh air as he could. Then he looked at the pink cloth that held his rice balls and got an idea. He took it and tied it around his head to cover his nose and mouth.

 _'I'm a genius!'_ He inwardly boasted.

Now properly attired, Naruto went back to the cat hut and sat in front of it again. This time, when he opened the leather flap, the smell didn't hit him as hard. He carefully reached inside with his gloved hands and grabbed the corner of the dirty linen. As Naruto pulled it out, he received an eye-full of urine stains and dried feces. Naruto nearly lost his breakfast.

After shaking off the dried poop, he tossed it aside and set out to spray and scrub the inside. It was hard to see the inside of the tiny house through the leather flap, but he somehow managed to scrape out the filth and clean every corner of the little hut blind. As he went to stand, his bumped his head on the side of the flat roof.

"Ooooowww!" As Naruto rubbed his head, he saw the roof had dislodged from hitting his head. Naruto paled! ' _Oh no! I broke it!'_ But then he saw round pegs jutting from the broken roof. He took a gamble and took the roof in his gloved hands, cleanly lifting it off the little house, taking the leather flap with it.

He got a clear view of the now clean inside of the house. Naruto began to fume!

 _'It's SUPPOSED to come apart! She could've told me about that earlier! Dammit!'_ Naruto felt like an idiot. _'Then again, she never told me specifically how to clean them. Welp! I won't get nothing done by complaining!'_ Naruto walked to the porch and grabbed the basket of clean blankets. After placing a clean one into the cat house, he put the roof back on and moved to the next one. His newfound knowledge of the cat house's construction made the next one, and the next ten or so, a lot easier to clean.

As he finished another one, he went to the next one. But when he tried lifting the roof off, he received a nasty growl!

" **RRRRREEEEOOOOOOOWWWW**!"

Naruto gulped. He recognized that growl. It was the same one from the cat that scratched him up the day he ran away from those bullies and met Kumineko. He only saw it's bright yellow eyes from the darkness! He didn't want to incur that nasty cat's once more.

But he also didn't want to piss off Kumineko by not finishing his chores.

Then he yelled inwardly, _'Don't be a wuss Naruto. It's just a cat! It can't do any worse to you!...Can it?'_

Naruto took a deep breath and lifted the roof off the house. He tensed as he looked inside.

He couldn't believe his eyes!

Inside lay a VERY angry white cat...with five tiny fuzzballs nuzzling her belly.

 _'She's got babies! That's why she's so mad. She thinks I'm gonna hurt them.'_ Naruto relaxed, pulled his pink cloth mask down, and offered his gloved hand to the angry mother cat.

"It's okay. I'm not gonna hurt ya. Or your babies." Naruto said with a smile.

She responded by swiping her claws deep into Naruto's hand.

"YEEOOOOOOOWWW!"

Naruto pulled off his glove to see the deep lacerations in his hand as they began to bleed. Naruto looked over to the cat hut and shouted.

"Stupid cat!"

"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON OUT HERE?!"

 _'Oh great.'_

Kumineko heard Naruto shout and came out to make sure he wasn't causing trouble. She saw his bleeding hand and assumed he didn't listen to a word she said!

"Didn't I SPECIFICALLY tell you earlier NOT TO FUCK WITH MY CATS!"

Naruto could've gone deaf by now from her shouting.

"No! I swear! I wasn't trying to hurt them!"

"BULLSHIT!"

"NO! REALLY! That cat scratched me when I tried to pet her. I was just telling her I wasn't gonna hurt her babies! And then-"

"SHUT UP!" Kumineko held up her hand to silence him. She then walked over to the currently roofless cat house and looked inside. Naruto then saw something he never thought he'd see on the angry woman.

She smiled.

"Shiro! Why didn't you tell me you had kittens! You grouchy ol' bitch!" She reached her hand in, and surprisingly enough, the white cat allowed the woman to pet her. Kumineko then ran a hand over Shiro's mewling babies, and Shiro allowed her to.

"I probably should've warned you about Shiro. She's one MEEEAN pussy! Especially when she just had kittens!"

 _'_ _Tell me something I don't know!'_ Naruto scowled and sucked on his bleeding hand.

Kumineko then began picking up the tiny kittens one-by-one, and put them in her yukata, using it like a basket. Once all the babies were safely held in her yukata, she called to Shiro who followed her to the house.

She put that angry look back on her face and said, without yelling, "Get back to work." She then walked inside with her kitten cargo.

Naruto instantly obeyed. He took his injured hand from his mouth to see it had healed. _'Good thing I heal fast, or I'd never get anything done today!'_ Naruto put his glove and mask back on, and went to clean Shiro's hut. Unlike the others, her linens were stained with blood and after birth!

"Eeeewwww!" Naruto wrinkled his nose in disgust.

* * *

"Scrub, scrub. Scrub, scrub. Scrub, scrub."

Naruto sang lightly to himself as he ran the dirty linens over the washboard in the sudsy tub.

After cleaning the cat huts and replacing their dirty linens, he was now scrubbing the filth out of the dirty ones, running them through the wringer, then hanging them to dry on the clothesline. He had washed most of them already, and is was barely even noon.

He still had the whole day ahead him. And even more will follow until he works off all the food he stole.

The thought made him sigh discontently.

He continued to scrub.

"Scrub, scrub. Scrub, scrub."

* * *

Naruto carefully pinched the wet linen in between the clothes pin. Once it was secured onto the clothesline, Naruto took off his gloves and handkerchief mask and wiped the sweat off his forehead.

"That's the last one!" Naruto smiled in triumph.

Naruto looked to the pink house. _'Guess I gotta go ask what to do now.'_ Naruto walked around to the front door and slowly opened the door. He peeked around the door to look inside.

It was small. Small, but...homey.

The door entered a living area with a comfy-looking couch facing a T.V. with a coffee table in between them. Behind the couch was a little dining area with a kotatsu* wrapped with a blue carp patterned blanket. Connected to the dining area was a decent sized kitchen with several fillet knives laying on the counter. Several were covered in fish guts. A doorway in the dining area lead to the hallway. Naruto walked carefully into the hallway to see five doors.

Three on his left. One on his right. And one at the end of the hall.

Which one was she in?

He decided to try one and chose the one door on the right. He knocked twice. When he received no answer, he slowly opened the door only for a mop to fall on his head.

"Ow!" Naruto rubbed his head. "Broom closet." Naruto mumbled.

He stuffed the mop back in the closet and closed the door.

The next door he went to next was the second door on the left. He knock three times, but still no answer. He eased it open to see a big bathing area with several shower heads and a big bathtub on the left side of the room.

From the look of the moldy tiles, it looked like it hadn't been cleaned in a LONG while!

But no Kumineko here.

Naruto closed the door back. He looked at the door next to it to see a green sign that said "VACANT" with a walking cat. He flipped it to see the other side colored red with the word "OCCUPIED" with a cat sitting in a litter box.

 _'This room's OBVIOUSLY the toilet.'_

He then looked to the door at the end of the hall.

He walked over and knocked three times. When he waited for a response, that's when he noticed an object hanging from the door knob.

It looked like a sleeping red kitten.

Maybe this was her bedroom. He raised his hand to turn the knob.

"HEY!"

Naruto stopped just short of touching the knob. He looked to see Kumineko standing in the first doorway next to the bathing room door. She stomped over to him and slapped his hand.

"Ow! What'd ya do that for?!"

"For touching things that don't belong to you! Didn't your mother ever teach you fucking manners?!"

Naruto wanted to curse her out so badly! But if he let one word slip out, it'd cost him his tongue. He settled for biting down on his cheek.

Kumineko smirked at the frustrated child. _'He's got more self control than I thought.'_ Kumineko was beginning to like his kid.

"New rules! No poking around! And no touching ANYTHING! Now follow me!" She turned and walked out the hallway.

 _'I didn't even touch it!'_ Naruto thought angrily while rubbing his stinging hand. He glared at the door.

What's in there anyway?

* * *

"OOF!"

Naruto fell forward on his face AGAIN.

His clumsy attempt at cleaning the entire wrap-around porch was only earning him more bruises.

Once he picked himself up again, he placed his hands on his cleaning rag and propelled himself forward with his short legs.

After five swift steps, he fell again.

Kumineko watched from the window, snickering to herself everytime the boy fell.

 _'He sucks at this. But it's fucking hilarious to watch!'_ She thought as she took a bite from her fish cake.

* * *

Naruto stood on the top of a shaky ladder as he scooped out dead leaves and gunk from the gutters.

Kumineko watched him from the ground as he miserably tried to drop the gutter junk into a nearby trash can only to miss sixty percent of the time.

 _'Just means more work for him.'_

Kumineko began munching on a kappa roll as she watched the boy steady himself on the ladder before scooping out another junk pile.

* * *

Naruto wanted to barf!

The bleach smelled so bad!

Naruto sprayed more of the nasty stuff on the moldy tiles of the bathroom. Once he'd done that, he had to scrub the massive bathtub with more of it!

And then the toilet!

"Blech!" Naruto spat.

* * *

The orange sun now hung over the tops of the trees.

A dirty and exhausted Naruto stood with a slouch on the front porch. Kumineko stood in front of him as she punched numbers on a calculator.

 _'What a day.'_ Naruto just wanted to go home and pass out. He barely ever did chores at home, let alone this much at someone else's house.

His arms hurt. His legs ache.

And he could still smell the bleach!

His last job of the day involved pulling weeds and digging in the dirt with his bare hands in Kumineko's vegetable garden that was tucked away behind the mackerel shed.

 ***Grrrrrrrr***

Naruto normally hated vegetables. But his hungry stomach wouldn't discriminate at this point. Too bad he had no money. He secretly hoped Tama would bring him another mackerel.

Kumineko finished up and spoke to him.

"Each bag of cat food costs 15,000 ryo. You owe me five times that amount. Minimum wage is 780. You've worked 11 hours today. So you've worked off..." Kumineko punched in the final numbers.

"...8,580 ryo. You should fully work off all you owe me in the next few weeks."

Naruto slumped over. "Awe man." he groaned.

"Quit your bitching! At least your doing something more productive with your time than stealing from cats!"

Naruto creased his brow and frowned deeply.

"You're a sloppy worker. That's for sure! Better hope you get better as you go!" Kumineko then scratched her chin in thought. "What day is it?"

Naruto spoke in a tired voice.

"Uh...Wednesday."

"Great! You've two more days of work before the weekend! I'll have more things for you to do by tomorrow."

 _'Ugh!'_

 _"_ Wait here a minute!" Kumineko walked inside the house and came back with a cloth wrapped box.

"Since you owe me money, I won't be paying you in money! But since you've worked all day without bitching so much about it, I think you deserve a treat. Here!"

Kumineko placed the box in Naruto's worn hands.

"Um...Thanks."

"Whatever. Now scram and go take a fucking bath! I don't want you coming here smelling like ass tomorrow morning!"

"Yes ma'am."

"Good! Now shoo! Get!"

Naruto scurried away on his aching feet off the property.

Kumineko watched him disappear into the trees. Once he was gone, she walked inside to her living area, and collapsed onto her couch.

 _'Kumineko! You fucking idiot!'_ She slapped her forehead and curled up into a ball. _'I can't believe I called him Mino-kun! You big fucking idiot!'_ She wanted to scream, cry...or hit something! Anything to rid herself of these miserable feelings!

Tama squeezed through the door and jumped on the couch to nudge Kumineko's forehead with his little pink nose. She looked up and scratched under Tama's furry white chin.

"Don't worry 'bout me. I've been worse. I just need...some alone time. I'll be in the shower."

Tama nodded and jumped off the couch and squeezed out the door.

Kumineko got up and stripped as she walked to the bathroom, becoming completely nude by the time she walked in.

 _'That kid did a decent job.'_ She commented inwardly at the now clean bathroom tiles. She turned a single knob and hot water spouted from all four showerheads. Kumineko sat down on a plastic stool under the warm torrent, letting the hot water and steam ease her tired mind.

She grabbed a nearby wash rag and ran it over her scarred right shoulder. A massive bite mark marred the front and back of the shoulder. From a top view, it looked as if a whole fanged mouth had closed on her shoulder and bit down leaving a perfect print.

Once her shoulders were washed, she moved to her front, around her breasts, and over several small toothpick-shaped scars.

The kind of scars you get from kunai.

Putting the rag aside, she ran her fingers over her damaged skin.

Another thin white scar ran along the right side of her belly just above her hip. On her right side, a diamond shaped scar sat below her ribs and intersected with its twin on her back. Her hand then touched the jagged scar that ran from the back of her left shoulder to the middle of her back.

It hurt like hell when she received them.

She remembered a time when she thought bodily harm was the worst thing that could happen to her.

How wrong she was.

* * *

Naruto made it home just after the sun set.

The first thing he wanted to do was go to bed, but he'd get an earful if he didn't have a bath by tomorrow.

' _I do feel really icky. Especially after cleaning those cat houses. Yuck!'_

Unfortunately, Naruto didn't have the luxury of a warm bath. His water ALWAYS ran cold. So he dealt with the task of bathing himself like pulling off a band-aid.

Quick and painless.

Once Naruto finished his bath, he turned his attention to the box wrapped in red cloth. He sat down and unwrapped it to reveal a black bento box.

He took the top off to reveal several sushi rolls, pickled vegetables, rice balls, and a cup of soy sauce.

Naruto wanted to shout out of joy!

He dove at the rice balls first. He took his time eating everything since he wasn't being rushed right now. The rice balls were the best! They were wrapped in flavored seaweed and filled with strawberries!

They tasted so sweet!

If he ended up getting payed in food everyday, he was fine with working.

 _'And she never asked me to do things to her. Maybe she's not so bad. If only she wasn't such a grump!'_ Naruto didn't understand why Kumineko was so grouchy all the time.

It seemed the only things she actually likes are cats and eating fish.

Maybe...he can get her to like him too.

 _'Nah! She'll probably never like me. But I can dream.'_

Naruto looked back to his food.

 _'She does make good food though.'_ He though as he stuffed a sushi roll in his mouth.

He somewhat looked forward to tomorrow.

* * *

 ***A kotatsu is a low, wooden table frame covered by a futon, or heavy blanket, upon which a table top sits. Underneath is a heat source, often built into the table itself.**

 **I've always wanted one!**

 **Read and review if you may.**


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